)I'm going to talk (a little) about some things that will NOT be in GWX version 1.04... or that you may not like... and give everybody a head start on complaining about it.
Longer repair times:
The LRT mod that many are familiar with, will not be included in GWX. Not only does it break the crew qualifcation system and play havoc with sensor employment in SH3/GWX, but it also puts at risk our tried and tested player U-boat damage model. Though the currently available LRT mod(s) might possibly be adapted to work with GWX, there are a great many hidden side effects that I think people just don't understand in relation to its interaction with GWX files. Repair times in GWX are already slightly lengthened over stock... and this is in line with research that indicates long/lengthy repairs couldn't really be done at sea. (as in the movie Das Boot)
What I find is that there is basically three kinds of damage that was sustained by U-boats in combat.
1) Catastrophic damage- U-boat lost.
2) Major damage- U-boat must return to base to repair, unable to continue mission.
3) Minor damage usually requiring little sustained action by the crew, mission continues.
The LRT mods modify elements of the player damage model that are very risky to mess with... ie: "water weight." I don't think that any of you would like to spend ages trying to pump out the water at periscope depth... only to crush at periscope depth. Further example: 32 hours to repair batteries...
I realize that for some this mod is a "must have" for "immersion" and their personal enjoyment... and more power to them. However, we will not risk such an important change to the final release of GWX.
Finally, the individual who designed the LRT mods is the only real expert on adjusting it... and he has left the community. At any rate, even if he returned today... the time and work involved to build and test an agreeable version would be prohibitive.
The "Stay Alert Crew" mods:
We also exhaustively tested the "Stay Alert" crew mods that are intended to increase player visual and hydrophone sensor accuity... and have declined their inclusion. Though again, some view this as a "must have" element and strong opinions abound regarding its use... they also break intended effects, and negate factors limiting sensor effectiveness designed into GWX.
The Stay Alert crew mods increase the speed of sensor sweeps (namely visual sensors and hydrophones) in an effort to overcome detection lag times among units in SH3... that are more pronounced with each increment of time compression. Some of you recall the discussions concerning the lack of aircraft attacks in SH3 while in transit at high TC... well, the same is also true of surface unit detection by both enemy and player AI... due to computational lag.
While the aims of the Stay Alert crew mods are admirable, (to prevent situations where the enemy may spot you before you spot them) in so doing they also completely reintroduce the old vampire night vision bug allowing player crew to pretty much instantly spot vessels at the absolute edge of visual range on the darkest of nights. Furthermore, it is also absolutely feasible and appropriate that the enemy may spot you before you spot them. This element must remain, IMHO. It is a risk that U-boat crews faced, and one that GWX users will continue to face.
This decision was only made following their inclusion in files we made available to our testers. Now before any of you think that I'm having a slap at the gentleman who designed the Stay Alert mods... I am not. GW/GWX owes its existence and success to him in a large way. I haven't a single bad thing to say about him.
Loading times:
Loading times will be a bit longer with 1.04. This is unavoidable. Do not confuse this with specifications required to run the game once it IS loaded. Any time we add something new... that didn't previously exist... it potentially increases load times. Though faster systems do shorten the load times a bit... the system that you play GWX on today... will run GWX version 1.04. Just keep your patience. We are all stuck with it as it is precipitated by limitations of the SH3 engine/program design. GWX version 1.04 will not demagnetize your refridgerator magnets or make your hamsters pregnant.
Radar Warning Receiver ranges in relation to SH3/GWX:
Another thing that became readily apparent in testing, is the complete and total reliability of RWR sensors at maximum total range. We have been unable to influence their reliability at outer ranges to make them "fuzzy" and give them any sort of range variance... Though the maximum possible ranges are historically accurate in the currently available evolution of GWX... we are pulling them back a few clicks to make more sense in relation to the environment that can be effectively represented in SH3.
The original ranges in stock SH3, though erroneous, were PROPORTIONATE in relation to historically possible ranges. We have chosen a middle ground. (Don't panic... you should still be able to crash dive in time to avoid trouble if you are vigilant.) In so doing, we've cut down on a bit of the constant radar warnings you may receive that have no real bearing on your current situation. (Do you really want to pick up that bomber formation heading to St. Nazaire 30km away 90 degrees to starboard and have it dump you out of TC each time one of the aircraft is detected?)
Contacts: (Aaronblood this is for you. Sorry you had to wait so long.)
In keeping with our "some... but not all" situational awareness availability of information given to the player... contacts are now LOSING their tails. This may not seem like much at first, but that tail gives you the exact heading of the contact, making intercepts a great deal simpler than should be. Making a successful intercept should not be a certainty. This coupled with the pre-existing random waypoint changes of convoys/merchant shipping (and now ASW forces and task forces) makes a successful intercept contain the same frustration in part that the real U-boat forces faced. We cannot simulate the nearly real-time decryption and dissemination of Enigma communications that were VERY often used by the Allies to re-route shipping well away from U-boat hunting areas... so this will serve the purpose. <Yes i hear many of you groaning... now stoppit!>
Once you DO attain visual range though... you can then click on the different contacts and zoom in on the map to reveal the outline and disposition of individual contact headings... as the watch crew could relate to the U-boat commander on his request.
Contact presentation with GWX 1.04:
Zoomed out- (Convoy contacts present similarly to the FIRST screenshot, though the example shown is for visual range individual contacts.)
Zoomed in-
Well, that's about it for now. Our next public update will be our final (and biggest/most powerful update ) ... and it will likely be followed by a fair amount of silence by the dev team as we beat it into submission as a release. Please DO NOT try to read a projected release date based on this. We've learned our lesson concerning such projections by running into unpredictable snags that often take many days to overcome. It will be ready when it is ready!
Oh... and you thought I wasn't going to give you any eye-candy...
http://rapidshare.com/files/52168964/wonderwhat.7z.html
and here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=3629
